St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-12-05
THOSE NEAR THE THRONE.
Personnel of the Officers on Duty
at the White House.

Montgomery Advertiser.
There has been number of changes
in the men around the throne. Col.
DinsmOre, the tall, blue-eyed Hercules
who acted as the presidents chief body
guard, has been replaced by gentle
manly, bright-eyed, light-haired, sandy
mustached man from Troy. He prom
iseS to be fully as efficient as DinsmOre.
and he has an eye which looks right
through every man who enters
the portals of the executive man
sion. He has had experience for
years as chief of police at Troy, and has
dealt with some of the worst characters.
He is not as tall as Dinsmore, but he
looks tough and wiry and his muscles
are said to be of iron. 1t will be his
duty to take charge of the messenger
service of the White house. He will
control the doOrkeeperS, will introduce
strangers to the president, and will see
that no Guiteau slips by unnOticed. He
is to be the Watchdog of the White
house, and he will hold one of the most
responsible positions i'll it. His office is
at the same time delicate one. He has
to deal with Mrs. Cleveland'S receptions
as well as those of the president,
and he will introduce the leading ladies
of the land as well as the most noted
men.
This appointment completes an almost
entire change in the personnel of the
officers of the White house who serve on
the ground floor. Those of the second
floor have been generally retained, and
the most responsible positions are Occu'
pied by men who have been i'll the Serv-
ice for years. Col. Crook, who has been
o0c llipr of fhn nNnc11tiUn nSiOn SincR
the days of Lincoln, has still charge of
the safe and pays the bills. Mr.. Pruden,
the executive clerk. holds the same pO-
sition here he has held in the past, and
Mr.. Henley is assistant private secretary
to Col. Lamont, as he was to President
Arthur. If Dickens fat boy had been
cOlOred he would have looked very much
like Col. LamOnt's dO0rkeeper, Arthur,
who has been in the White house
for quarter of a century; and another
old stager is Sergt. LOeffier, on the
same floor, who came from being mes
Senger to Secretary Stanton, when he
was JOhnSon'S secretary of war. to take
the place of special messenger to the:
president. Sergt. LeOffier is young
looking man with irOn-gray hair. He
takes the cards of visitors i'll to the pres
ident and brings out the answers as to
whether the president will receive
them. He has little desk placed be-
tween the two doors which lead to the
presidents apartments, and he sits at
this during the whole time that the
president is in his private Office. Arthur,
the fat cOlOred man of whom | spoke
above, has rather handsome face, the
expression of which is a cross between
solemnity and fun. He is universally
polite, and he opens the door to
visitors with grand flourish,
cautiously discriminating as to who
should stay out. Arthur was the White
house butler when Johnson was preSi-
dent. and he thinks that Andrew John
son was one of the greatest presidents
this country has ever known. He says
President johnson had mind Of his
own, and tells how, one morning when
the president was eating some hot corn
bread, of which he was very fond, Col.
Moore, his private secretary, came in
and said that he thought congress would
impeach him. ''President johnson
finished eating his bit of corn-bread
and he then raised his hand and brought
It down hard on the dining-table: They
may impeach and be d-d!' lie said, and
he wasn't afraid Of them either. Mr..
Johnson wasn't afraid of no man. and
it is a lie when they say he was Stingy
:tllC urullhcu' nc llhcu SoOu llquOIS,
but ne did not drink too much. and he
was especially fond of sherry. guess
remember his sherry mighty well,'
Arthur went on, smacking his lips.
'Pale sherry. Have you ever drunk it?
And MiStah Johnson always had the
best. j had the keys of the pantry and
| served all the wines. L remember
once we got a case or so of ScuppernOng
wine from North Carolina. 1t was
present to the president. brought him
in some one day. He tasted it and then
handed the glass back to me, saying:
Arthur. that wine is frem North Caro-
lima, and you ale from North Carolina
/ guess that wine will suit you better
than it does me, and you may take it
| carted those two dozen bottles home
that night, and let me tell you that
ScuppernOng wine is goOd.n